DIRECTV does it again.
Face it… recording two things at the same time is so… 2003. You’ve got 300 channels, and chances are pretty good that there will be at least three things you want to record at the same time. You could get multiple DVRs and try to manage everything manually. But that gets tedious.
Enter the big dog… DIRECTV’s super DVR, the HR34. First shown at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, the HR34 looks like a bigger, chunkier HR24, with its front panel looking just like the HR24’s. It’s got the sleek, touch-sensitive look of its smaller brother.
The HR34 has a 1TB hard drive for 200 hours of HD storage or more SD storage than you could really ever watch. It can record 5 things at the same time, and serve three other receivers for Whole-Home viewing. It’s loaded up with DIRECTV’s RVU technology for future-proofing. It can store 100 series links in its memory, up from 50 in the HR24 and earlier DVRs.
While the HR34 doesn’t have DIRECTV’s whiz-bang new high-definition user interface, that’s just temporary. Rumor has it that the new menus are coming soon. When they come, the change will be automatic, just as it is with other DVRs.
RVU Technology is coming… and it’s the future of DIRECTV.
DIRECTV’s PR department has made it clear. DIRECTV and Samsung formed the RVU alliance with the goal of making it the standard installation for the future. For today, only three televisions — Samsung’s 2011-model D6400 Smart TV’s — can use the new technology. RVU allows the TV to work as a DIRECTV receiver without any separate receiver. The HR34 can serve up four RVU streams at once… if you have four of the right televisions. This technology is still in its infancy, but Samsung’s already announced that their 2012 televisions will have RVU 2.0, which promises to be more stable than the first-generation TVs.
For now, the HR34 is content to be the king of the DVR hill. No other single device can record more things at once. The technology of the future is still a way off, but when it comes, the HR34 will be ready.
The DIRECTV HR34 is available from SolidSignal.com for $399 for existing DIRECTV customers, and carries a significant rebate for new customers as well. A SWM system is required to use the HR34.
